Live data from Hacker News

MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

nytimes.com

551–560 of 565 posts

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s definitely said that. But there’s no confirmation or audit or accountability. It’s like crypto companies saying on multiple occasions that they were solvent. The claim is also objectively disprovable since the man lives, has homes, etc. So he’s spending something on non-video things. And that’s ok. It’s just that “100% into future videos” is clearly not true. Maybe it’s 99.999%. Maybe it’s 0.001%. We don’t get t…

> He’s definitely said that. But there’s no confirmation or audit or accountability. It’s like crypto companies saying on multiple occasions that they were solvent. There’s also no proof that he’s lying, either. His entire schtick is to be the cool philanthropist and he has staked pretty much his entire reputation on this brand. He has no reason to lie and is in fact heavily incentivized to tell the truth to keep doi…

In his most recent appearance on the Fragrance podcast he talked about no longer spending more than he has, as he's responsible for so many people's monthly paychecks. He has taken out loans in the past to cover that, apparently. Usually with upcoming deal brand payments as collateral (as those are sometimes paid up to 90 days after the deal)

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#552
post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So imagine going to someone who's blind, and say "we'll pay for your treatment, but you've got to let us film you... oh what's that ? you don't want to ?... ha.. i'm sorry, next !" Is that really altruism ? It sounds more like a business deal to me.

Firstly, it is debatable as to whether there is anything truly altruistic. For MOST acts aren't truly altruistic but that doesn't stop us from doing good things or being seen to be a good person. Of course there is an element of business, otherwise he wouldn't be able to make these videos in the first place if people didn't agree to be filmed. The difference here is that being on camera is a small price to pay than t…

Would be able to tell that to someone ?

I know i wouldn't, i would just feel like shit. Because it is shity.

I'd rather have him keep doing silly video and dedicate 10% of his revenues to non-profit, period, no filming, totally anonymously.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#553
post #12
post #4

My kids love Mr Beast. I'm uncomfortable with it and can't put my finger on it. It feels like he makes life look like you stand a good chance of having someone walk in and give you $100,000. Maybe there is no harm in thinking that? But it feels like the same thing as buying a lottery ticket. I guess YouTube is free? But is the time spent on that channel worth it over doing other things? I admire the approach he takes…

I'm also uncomfortable with it. There's nothing inherently wrong with philanthropy but what I'm seeing is a very successful business with an enormous and very expensive campus. MrBeast himself is very rich. So what I'm seeing is a corporation claiming to do everything for the benefit of others while actually taking a lot of the money very visibly for themselves. His channel made $54m from youtube in 2021, and probabl…

MrBeast claims he is not rich, that he puts all the money back into his videos. Of course that means he has a huge production. That doesn't mean it makes a lot of profit. Unless there is factual evidence to the contrary I'm inclined to believe MrBeast. He has never been caught lying, which is virtually impossible given his presence and reach.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not letting your kids watch saturday morning cartoons because you find them to be annoying seems pretty dickish and seems like it has an extremely asymmetric possible negative long run consequence. What negative long run consequence could possibly be created by not being able to watch noisy, annoying, brain-mush kids TV? I'm glad I was discouraged from watching TV on a saturday morning. I didn't miss it at the time…

[flagged]

[flagged]

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#555
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not exactly a fan of Mr. Beast, but this comment reeks of more elitism than any Mr. Beast video I've ever watched. Are "poors" too stupid to make decisions for themselves? Everyone in that video received thousands of dollars. I'm nowhere near poor, but if I was given an opportunity, I'd probably participate.

> Are "poors" too stupid to make decisions for themselves? Everyone in that video received thousands of dollars. I'm nowhere near poor, but if I was given an opportunity, I'd probably participate. No one's saying they're stupid for participating. If I was offered thousands of dollars for peeing in my pants in public for a video, I'd very probably take the offer and no one would think I was stupid for it; it would sti…

[deleted]

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#556
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s shady because he puts his name on crap and doesn’t care because everything is BS. Would you start a burger business without quality control? Would you let random companies put your name on crap? That’s shady.

It’s actually a quite interesting and experimental business model. The man is a business genius. You’re seeing the early buggy days of an insanely profitable food chain business model

Business genius lmao, he got lucky and made a huge chunk of money on crypto. After that, the money makes itself.

When they say it takes money to make money, that's pretty much it. Reach a certain threshold and the interest on it will pay off any failures you make.

& because the general masses adore and love to watch rich people dance around screen, ofc his YT does well, he's got the money to do some crazy stuff. Everyone watches "who wants to be a millionaire", nobody watches "who wants to win 10 bucks".

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ah yes, the modern western "I can't do my job as a parent" excuse

Your job as a parent is to train your kid to be a functional adult, not impose counterproductive and arbitrary restrictions because you're frightened by something you don't understand. Any parent who goes to war with their kid over the mere watching of Mr Beast really needs to consider their priorities in life, and if they're just taking out their insecurities on their kid.

Raise your kids or watch the world raise your kids for you.

If you think that certain media is imparting negative morals on your child, then it's on you to control that. On the other hand if you think it's unusual, but ultimately harmless, then it's also your prerogative as a parent to allow them to watch it.

But the whole stance of "I can't control what my kids are doing because they'll resent me if I do" just sounds like an excuse to deny your own agency over the situation.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#558
post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then they'll resent you and watch it on their friends' phones anyway when they can. And they'll suffer socially because they won't be able to talk with other kids at the lunch table about the most recent episode.

I dunno, my parents didn't let me watch The Simpsons when I was a kid. Sure, there was occasionally talk about the latest episode at the lunch table, but it wasn't a big deal, and I turned out ok. One of my closest childhood friends watched it, and we're still friends now, 25+ years later... he's never held my lack of Simpsons knowledge against me. I think the idea that "parents won't let kids watch X" is somehow dam…

My perception about this based on my experience and my kids’ experiences is that these matters are more ubiquitous and socially relevant than ever. Memification of everything permeates their social fabric and if you aren’t in on it, you’re disadvantaged. Kids are simultaneously too young and too immersed to have perspective on this, so being excluded simply hurts.

My approach is to allow exposure but to maintain dialogue around it. They know I accept them watching it, I don’t criticize them for it, but I encourage them to be critical about it themselves and wonder about why it’s popular and so on. At least seeding the idea that they should observe themselves and their peers can hopefully lead to making better decisions later.

Sort of a “let them make their own mistakes” thing, with fairly manageable stakes.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#559

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s actually a quite interesting and experimental business model. The man is a business genius. You’re seeing the early buggy days of an insanely profitable food chain business model

Business genius lmao, he got lucky and made a huge chunk of money on crypto. After that, the money makes itself. When they say it takes money to make money, that's pretty much it. Reach a certain threshold and the interest on it will pay off any failures you make. & because the general masses adore and love to watch rich people dance around screen, ofc his YT does well, he's got the money to do some crazy stuff. Ever…

I’m not talking about the reality show friend.

He has a fast food restaurant chain that has grown insanely quickly by partnering with local restaurants. He has no kitchens yet dozens of these fast food restaurants operating solely on Uber/DoorDash.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By this logic a casino is altruistic and charitable.

If the casino donated half its earnings many people would call it charitable. In fact charity poker is pretty common.

You are missing the point. A casino is already giving away a lot of money to a winner when somebody else is losing.
Post reply on HN